Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T04:17:36.320Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mild cognitive impairment: a history and the state of current diagnostic criteria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2014

Adam Gerstenecker  and
Benjamin Mast
Adam Gerstenecker*
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294USA
Benjamin Mast
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292USA
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Adam Gerstenecker, PhD, Department of Neurology, Division of Neuropsychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 650 Sparks Center, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA. Phone: 205-934-2334, Fax: 205-975-3094. Email: [email protected].
Get access

Abstract

Background:

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a diagnostic classification used to describe patients experiencing cognitive decline but without a corresponding impairment in daily functioning. Over the years, MCI diagnostic criteria have undergone major changes that correspond to advancements in research. Despite these advancements, current diagnostic criteria for MCI contain issues that are reflected in the research literature.

Methods:

A review of the available MCI literature was conducted with emphasis given to tracing MCI from its conceptual underpinnings to the most current diagnostic criteria. A clinical vignette is utilized to highlight some of the limitations of current MCI diagnostic criteria.

Results:

Issues are encountered when applying MCI diagnostic criteria due to poor standardization. Estimates of prevalence, incidence, and rates of conversion from MCI to dementia reflect these issues.

Conclusions:

MCI diagnostic criteria are in need of greater standardization. Recommendations for future research are provided that could potentially bring more uniformity to the diagnostic criteria for MCI and, therefore, more consistency to the research literature.

Keywords

mild cognitive impairmentdementiaactivities of daily livingcognitive assessment
Type
Review Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , February 2015 , pp. 199 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdulrab, K. and Heun, R. (2008). Subjective memory impairment: a review of its definitions indicates the need for a comprehensive set of standardized and validated criteria. European Psychiatry, 23, 321–330.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Albert, M. S. et al. (2011). The diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease: recommendations from the national institute on aging and Alzheimer's association workgroup. Alzheimer's and Dementia, 7, 270–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edn, revised. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
American Psychological Association, Presidential task force on the assessment of age- consistent memory decline and dementia (1998). Guidelines for the Evaluation of Dementia and Age-Related Cognitive Decline. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Amieva, H. et al. (2004). Annual rate and predictors of conversion to dementia in subjects presenting mild cognitive impairment criteria defined according to a population- based study. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 18, 87–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Artero, S., Petersen, R., Touchon, J. and Ritchi, K. (2006). Revised criteria for mild cognitive impairment: validation within a longitudinal population study. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 22, 465–470.Google Scholar
Boustani, M., Peterson, B., Hanson, L., Harris, R. and Lohr, K. N. (2003). Screening for dementia in primary care: a summary of the evidence for the U.S. preventive services task force. Annals of Internal Medicine, 138, 927–937.Google Scholar
Busse, A., Bischkopf, J., Riedel-Heller, S. G. and Angermeyer, M. C. (2003). Mild cognitive impairment: prevalence and incidence according to different diagnostic criteria – results of the Leipzig longitudinal study of the aged (LEILA75+). British Journal of Psychiatry, 182, 449–454.Google Scholar
Busse, A., Hensel, A., Guhne, U., Angermeyer, M. C. and Riedel-Heller, S. G. (2006). Mild cognitive impairment: long-term course of four clinical subtypes. Neurology, 67, 2176–2185.Google Scholar
Caracciolo, B. et al. (2008). Occurrence of cognitive impairment and dementia in the community: a 9-year-long prospective study. Neurology, 70, 1778–1785.Google Scholar
Carlson, M. C., Xue, Q., Zhou, J. and Fried, L. P. (2009). Executive decline and dysfunction precedes declines in memory: the women's health and aging study II. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 64, 110–117.Google Scholar
Chaves, M. L., Camozzato, A. L., Godinho, C., Piazenski, I. and Kaye, J. (2009). Incidence of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease in southern Brazil. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 22, 181–187.Google Scholar
Cockburn, J., Keene, J., Hope, T. and Smith, P. (2000). Progressive decline in NART score with increasing dementia severity. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 22, 508–517.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crawford, J. R., Millar, J. and Milne, A. B. (2001). Estimating premorbid IQ from demographic variables: a comparison of a regression equation vs. clinical judgment. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 40, 97–105.Google Scholar
Dubois, B. et al. (2007). Research criteria for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: revising the NINCDS-ADRDA criteria. Lancet Neurology, 6, 734–746.Google Scholar
Flicker, C., Ferris, S. H. and Reisberg, B. (1991). Mild cognitive impairment in the elderly: predictors of dementia. Neurology, 41, 1006–1009.Google Scholar
Flocke, S. A., Frank, S. H. and Wenger, D. A. (2001). Addressing multiple problems in the family practice office visit. The Journal of Family Practice, 50, 211–216.Google Scholar
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E. and McHugh, P. R. (1975). Mini mental state: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 12, 189–198.Google Scholar
Ganguli, M., Dodge, H. H., Shen, C. and DeKosky, S. T. (2004). Mild cognitive impairment, amnestic type: an epidemiologic study. Neurology, 63, 115–121.Google Scholar
Goldberg, T. E., Ragland, J. D., Torrey, E. F., Gold, J. M., Bigelow, L. B. and Weinberger, D. R. (1990). Neuropsychological assessment of monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47, 1066–1072.Google Scholar
Goldberg, T. E. et al. (2010). Performance-based measures of everyday function in mild cognitive impairment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 167, 845–853.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffin, S. L., Mindt, M. R., Rankin, E. J., Ritchie, A. J. and Scott, J. G. (2002). Estimating premorbid intelligence: Comparison of traditional and contemporary methods across the intelligence continuum. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 17, 497–507.Google Scholar
Heaton, R. K. et al. (1994). Neuropsychological impairment in human immunodeficiency virus infection: implications for employment. Psychosomatic Medicine, 56, 8–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hebert, L. E., Scherr, P. A., Bienias, J. L., Bennett, D. A. and Evans, D. A. (2003). Alzheimer disease in the US population: prevalence estimates using the 2000 census. Archives of Neurology, 60, 1119–1122.Google Scholar
Jonker, C., Geerlings, M. I. and Schmand, B. (2000). Are memory complaints predictive for dementia? A review of clinical and population based studies. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 15, 983–991.Google Scholar
Jonker, C., Launer, L. J., Hooijer, C. and Lindeboom, J. (1996). Memory complaints and memory impairment in older individuals. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 44, 44–49.Google Scholar
Kiely, K. M., Luszcz, M. A., Piguet, O., Christensen, H., Bennett, H. and Anstey, K. J. (2011). Functional equivalence of the national adult reading test (NART) and Schonell reading tests and NART norms in the dynamic analyses to optimise ageing (DYNOPTA) project. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 33, 410–421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larrabee, G. J. and Crook, T. H. (1994). Estimated prevalence of age-associated memory impairment derived from standardized tests of memory function. International Psychogeriatrics, 6, 95–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larrieu, S. et al. (2002). Incidence and outcome of mild cognitive impairment in a population-based prospective cohort. Neurology, 59, 1594–1595.Google Scholar
Loewenstein, D. A. et al. (2001). Caregivers’ judgments of the functional abilities of the Alzheimer's disease patient: a comparison of proxy reports and objective measures. Journal of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Science and Social Science, 56, 78–84.Google Scholar
Lopez, O. L. et al. (2003). Prevalence and classification of mild cognitive impairment in the cardiovascular health study cognition study: part 1. Archives of Neurology, 60, 1385–1389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luck, T., Luppa, M., Briel, S. and Riedel-Heller, S. G. (2010). Incidence of mild cognitive impairment: a systematic review. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 29, 164–175.Google Scholar
Luck, T. et al. for the AgeCoDe Group. (2007). Mild cognitive impairment in general practice: age-specific prevalence and correlate results from the German study on ageing, cognition and dementia in primary care patients (Age-CoDe). Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 24, 307–316.Google Scholar
Manly, J. J., Byrd, D., Touradji, P., Sanchez, D. and Stern, Y. (2004). Literacy and cognitive change among ethnically diverse elders. International Journal of Psychology, 39, 47–60.Google Scholar
Manly, J. J., Tang, M. X., Schupf, N., Stern, Y., Vonsattel, J. P. G. and Mayeux, R. (2008). Frequency and course of mild cognitive impairment in a multiethnic community. Annals of Neurology, 63, 494–506.Google Scholar
McGurn, B., Starr, J. M., Topfer, J. A., Partie, A., Whiteman, M. C. and Lemmon, H. A. (2004). Pronunciation of irregular words is preserved in dementia, validating premorbid IQ estimation. Neurology, 62, 1184–1186.Google Scholar
Nelson, H. E. (1982). The National Adult Reading Test (NART): test manual. Windsor, Great Britain: NFER-Nelson.Google Scholar
O’Carroll, R. E., Prentice, N., Murray, C., Van Beck, M., Ebmeier, K. P. and Goodwin, G. M. (1995). Further evidence that reading ability is not preserved in Alzheimer's disease. British Journal of Psychiatry, 167, 659–662.Google Scholar
Okonkwo, O. C. et al. (2008). Medical decision-making capacity in mild cognitive impairment: a 3-year longitudinal study. Neurology, 71, 1474–1480.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Panza, F. et al. (2005). Current epidemiology of mild cognitive impairment and other predementia syndromes. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 13, 633–644.Google Scholar
Petersen, R. C., Smith, G. E., Waring, S. C., Ivnik, R. J., Tangalos, E. G. and Kokmen, E. (1997). Aging, memory, and mild cognitive impairment. International Psychogeriatrics, 9, 65–69.Google Scholar
Petersen, R. C., Smith, G. E., Waring, S. C., Ivnik, R. J., Tangalos, E. G. and Kokmen, E. (1999). Mild cognitive impairment: clinical characterization and outcome. Archives of Neurology, 56, 303–308.Google Scholar
Petersen, R. C. et al. (2001). Current concepts in mild cognitive decline. Archives of Neurology, 58, 1985–1992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plassman, B. L. et al. (2007). Prevalence of dementia in the United States: the aging, demographics, and memory study. Neuroepidemiology, 29, 125–132.Google Scholar
Ravaglia, G., et al. (2008). Mild cognitive impairment: epidemiology and dementia risk in an elderly Italian population. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 56, 51–58.Google Scholar
Reid, L. M. and Maclullich, A. M. (2006). Subjective memory complaints and cognitive impairment in older people. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 22, 471–485.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reisberg, B., Ferris, S. H., de Leon, M. J. and Crook, T. (1982). The global deterioration scale for assessment of primary degenerative dementia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 1136–1139.Google Scholar
Riedel-Heller, S. G., Matschinger, H., Schork, A. and Angermeyer, M. C. (1999). Do memory complaints indicate the presence of cognitive impairment? Results of a field study. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 249, 197–204.Google Scholar
Solfrizzi, V. et al. for the Italian longitudinal study on aging working group. (2004). Vascular risk factors, incidence of MCI, and rates of progression to dementia. Neurology, 63, 1882–1891.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tervo, S. et al. (2004). Incidence and risk factors for mild cognitive impairment: a population based three-year follow-up study of cognitively healthy elderly subjects. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 17, 196–203.Google Scholar
Triebel, K. et al. (2009). Declining financial capacity in mild cognitive impairment: a one-year longitudinal study. Neurology, 73, 928–934.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verghese, J. et al. (2006). Leisure activities and the risk of amnestic mild cognitive impairment in the elderly. Neurology, 66, 821–827.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Winblad, B. et al. (2004). Mild cognitive impairment – Beyond controversies, towards a concensus: report of the international working group on mild cognitive impairment. Journal of International Medicine, 256, 240–246.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1992). International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision (ICD-10). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Zaudig, M. (1992). A new systematic method of measurement and diagnosis of “mild cognitive impairment” and dementia according to ICD-10 and DSM-III-R criteria. International Psychogeriatrics, 2, 203–219.Google Scholar
Zaudig, M. and Hillner, W. (1991). SIDAM-Structured interview for the diagnosis of dementia of the Alzheimer type, multi-infarct dementia, and dementias of other etiology according to DSM-III-R and ICD-10. The SIDAM User's Guide. Munich, Germany: Logomed.Google Scholar
Zaudig, M., Mittelhammer, J., Hiller, W., Pauls, A., Thora, , Morinigo, A. and Mombour, W. (1991). SIDAM-A structured interview for the diagnosis of dementia of the Alzheimer type, multi-infarct dementia, and dementias of other etiology according to DSM-III-R and ICD-10. Psychological Medicine, 21, 225–236.Google Scholar